Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Waluigi's New Patient Zero

He stood on the street corner, holding up the sign with the blue-haired anime girl that read; "Pay To Help Bring My Anime Dreams to Life."

For months, Francis had tried to fulfill his dreams, campaigning everywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom in the hopes that someone, anyone, would help him bring his waifus to life. Sure, there were gorgeous anime-esque girls walking around, but the chameleon craved live anime girls. It had started around Valentine's Day, but he was never going to give up.

"Heeeeyyyyy, gorgeous!" Francis said with a smile as Nami walked by, the sight of the fiery-haired pirate girl made the chameleon put down his sign and approach her, hypnotized by the anime beauty that was passing through.

"What do you want, creepy lizard?" Nami asked nervously.

"You wanna be part of my kingdom of waifus?" Francis asked, giving the pirate a sly and loving look, "You have no idea how much I wanna see my anime dreams come to life."

"Eh-heh... n-no thanks." Nami walked off, leaving Francis heart-broken.

"PSST!"

The nerdy chameleon looked around and saw a cloaked figure near an alleyway, staring at him with gleaming blue eyes. The strange figure gestured for Francis to approach and the chameleon approached him, curious as to what this entity wanted.

"You like anime girls?" The man asked.

"Yeah." Francis said with a mad grin.

"And you want to live in an anime world and see your waifus to come to life?"

"Oooooh, yeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss." Francis giggled, "I'll do ANYTHING, ANYTHING, for my dreams to come true! I love anime, I love Dragon Ball Z and One-Piece and High School of The Dead and all the anime that I've watched. I love it so much, I want to be with my very own anime girl and live happily ever after with her."

"I know how to make your dream come to life." The figure told Francis.

"You do, what's the secret, sempai?"

"Come with me..."

Francis looked around, making absolutely sure that nobody was watching. He followed the dark figure into the alleyway until the sun no longer shone on the two of them. When they were alone, the dark figure turned to Francis, who saw an eerie gleam in the figure's eye. Seconds later, the figure grabbed Francis and the world around him vanished in a shade of black.

Darkness obscured the anime nerd's vision and all he could hear was an ominous whooshing, the flap of a cloak, and a sinister chuckle from somewhere. Francis was wondering what was happening when he heard a thump and felt himself laying on the ground.

He was in a dark cavern, surrounded by shadows. Francis stood up, but just before he could take it in, black rope surrounded his arms and legs and tied him down. The chameleon yelped and struggled to break free, the ropes tightened themselves and Francis screamed with fear. Oh, what was even happening to him?

"You know what they say, there's a sucker born every minute."

Laughter echoed through the cavern and chills ran down Francis' skin. Footsteps reached his ears and someone emerged from the shadows. The chameleon gasped, recognizing him in a second as Waluigi. Except, Waluigi was taller and muscular, sporting some headband on his head with long brown hair. And, what was that in his hand?

Francis whimpered in fear and looked into Waluigi's eyes, seeing a blue gleam in them, adjacent to the eerie aura surrounding his body. He was already unnerved by the Wah-man's new power and that mushroom looked like a Poison Mushroom, except Poison Mushrooms didn't have a T on them.

"Too easy to fool." Waluigi mused, "You have just volunteered yourself for my T-Pose experiment, Francis. I'll say, you are a gullible, but useful baka."

"YOU'RE THE BAKA HERE, BAKA!" Francis shrieked, "And, T-Pose? I HEARD A T-POSE VIRUS CRISIS TOOK PLACE SEVERAL DAYS AGO! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID IT?!"

"I created the T-Pose Shroom, which I am about to give to you. My powers have doubled since that day in the forest, since the T-Pose virus was countered by the princess at the castle, meaning my T-Pose Virus may be stronger than ever."

"YOU MONSTER! YOU CRAZY BAKA!"

"Scream all you want, weeb. But its time to take a mushroom..."

Waluigi moved closer and Francis protested. The Wah-man held up the T-Pose Mushroom and shoved it into the chameleon's mouth. He clicked his fingers and a purple aura surrounded Francis, Waluigi made him chew and chew. Seconds later, Francis began to scream and fell over as bones cracked and his body began to change.

And, all the while, Waluigi stood back and watched with a cruel smile. The screams silenced and Francis rose again, his arms out to the side, staring at Waluigi with a blank expression. He stood still as a statue, no words from his mouth.

'Now for the experiment...' Waluigi thought, 'We'll see if 1-Ups work on this one...'

He reached into the pocket of his pants and, from his inventory, the super-powered rogue pulled out a 1-Up Mushroom. He threw it at Francis, wondering what it would happen, and the mushroom bounced off. It rolled away into the darkness, coming to a stop as it hit a wall. It didn't affect the T-posing Francis, who continued to stand still as a statue, as if he awaited a command.

"It didn't work?" Waluigi sneered, "IT DIDN'T WORK! YES! YES! PERFECT! I AM MORE POWERFUL THAN EVER! IT WON'T BE MUCH LONGER, THE T-POSE APOCALYPSE WILL BEGIN AGAIN AND THERE IS NO HOPE THAT IT CAN BE CURED! GLORIOUS!"

Waluigi howled victoriously, then he pulled out a phone and snapped a selfie of himself standing next to the new patient zero of another impending T-Pose apocalypse.

Soon, it would be time to strike...